Being Muslim in India

What would it feel like if you were not allowed and equally accepted by the society you live in? What if your friends, colleagues, seniors, acquaintances, everybody treats you ‘differently‘?

Constant doubts, sudden interrogations and doubtful looks buzzing around you all the time?

And why?

Just because a single person from your sect happened to be involved in the most dangerous attacks of all times on yourown country!

You guessed it right; we’re speaking of nobody else but Muslims. And how easy was it to make this out.

Ever wondered what exactly is it like to be a Muslim in India?

The lesser known fact is that millions of people from the very same community hold India as their motherland. They respect and protect the country they reside in. Sadly, not many of us have the same kind of dedication and respect towards this country that we claim as ‘our own’.

Right from the very beginning, when a kid starts going to school, he is questioned about his religion, native land, religious practices and the culture that he follows. From that very point, the feeling of dejection starts developing. As he grows up, into a successful man or not, he has to face certain discrimination at every other point of his life.

The Muslims in India face what is an age-old problem, that is, how to live with others as equals. The never ending challenge to prove themselves has forced them to differentiate themselves either into a consolidated colony or a powerful communal group.

Is there no choice for them but to live with their past? Won’t we give them a chance to forget it? What is most imperative in today’s times is that we realize that there is no one Muslim past, there are as many pasts as there are Muslims. At present, each Muslim mind, on one hand is being coerced by the propagators of Islam and on the other hand, by leaders of the so-called Indian mainstream.

Of course, like the Muslims of India, the non-Muslims of India also have a multitude of pasts.